Euthanasia / Suicide

(Vox) – I was born nearly 55 years ago with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital, progressive neuromuscular weakness akin to muscular dystrophy. Without extensive daily interventions — hands-on (and expensive) assistance with bathing, dressing, toileting, and feeding, as well as … Read More

(The Guardian) – Dying and death is not a new phenomenon: we have always become ill, suffered, were going to die and someone else could have killed us. So why now, at the beginning of the 21st century, after prohibiting … Read More

(Medscape) – Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act (DWDA), passed through a voter-approved ballot initiative in 1997, lays out strict requirements for patients interested in requesting a prescription from their physician that would enable the patient to end to his or … Read More

(Medscape) – Ethical arguments against the legalization of physician-assisted dying remain more compelling than those in support of the practice, the American College of Physicians (ACP) states in an updated position statement published September 18 in the Annals of Internal … Read More

(Medical Xpress) – Amid changing attitudes toward death and dying, some people with serious physical and/or mental illnesses are claiming a right to choose the time, place, and manner of their death. Discussions about “pre-planned death” pose new challenges for … Read More

(Sydney Morning Herald) – In a study of states with euthanasia law, published in Current Oncology, Dr J. Pereira writes that “laws and safeguards are regularly ignored and transgressed in all the jurisdictions and that transgressions are not prosecuted. For … Read More

(Medical Xpress) – Why are so many teenagers taking their own life? One factor is what I call “toxic socialization” —a process of physical or emotional childhood and adolescent abuse. Those who grow up in toxic environments are up to … Read More

(ABC News) – New York’s ban on assisted suicide will stand after the state’s highest court on Thursday rejected arguments from terminally ill patients who say they should have the right to seek life-ending drugs from a doctor. The Court … Read More

(Philadelphia Inquirer) – “This is who is dying from opiates – people in their 20s and 30s. Think about what that population is,” Nelson said. “It’s parents.” Now Nelson is working with county coroners across the nation to try to … Read More

(Los Angeles Times) – Some doctors in California felt uncomfortable last year when a new law began allowing terminally ill patients to request lethal medicines, saying their careers had been dedicated to saving lives, not ending them. Many healthcare systems … Read More